Jujutsu Kaisen: I Can Manipulate Time.

Naine stood among the remains of countless shattered Cursed Spirits, gripping Totsuka-no-Tsurugi so tightly her knuckles were white. She had never witnessed anything like this before. Growing up, the most she'd ever seen were low-grade spirits no bigger than insects. The incident triggered by this Curse Master was already the most dangerous experience of her life.

The Cursed Spirits she had fought weren't strong individually, but they were many, and she'd had to cut each one down with her own hands. Unlike her previous encounter—where injuring one was enough to drive them away—this time, she'd seen limbs flying, flesh torn apart. The impact on her psyche was heavy.

Nearby, Kamihara Hajime barely lifted a finger. After clearing the area of spirits, the corridor's doors ceased their erratic opening. He tried walking toward the shadowy depths of the hallway, but no matter how far he moved, the dense blackness ahead remained unchanged—neither approaching nor retreating.

It wasn't until Naine vanished from sight behind him that Hajime paused, then continued forward. Soon enough, two familiar figures emerged from the darkness—Naine, still holding Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, and White Wolf at her side.

Hearing footsteps behind her, Naine turned in confusion. "Hajime-kun, weren't you ahead of me? How did you end up behind?"

He didn't answer immediately. Instead, Hajime activated his technique, moving like a ghost drifting through space. He traversed the corridor in every direction, only to find himself looping back to the same spot—Naine always in front of him.

Deactivating his technique, Hajime returned to where he started. Naine blinked; for a second, she thought he had appeared in a different position than before. Before she could ask, Hajime spoke up.

"This innate domain is circular. No matter where we go, we always end up back at the beginning."

Naine glanced at the doors lining either side of the corridor. "What about those? If this place loops, where do they lead?"

Hajime approached one of them. "Let's find out."

He turned the knob and braced for a Curse to attack. But instead of danger, he was met with something stranger—his own back, standing in another hallway.

Hajime spun around and opened the door behind him. The same result: another reflection of his back. But these weren't illusionary projections made by a Curse—they didn't mirror his movements. It was like staring into a mirror that reflected his image, but never from the front.

Naine peeked around him, her eyes wide. "What… is this?"

To test the space, Hajime had her stand still between the two doors. Then, facing her, he walked backward through one of the portals.

On the other side, his mirrored self did the same—retreating until they both reached Naine. At the moment of contact, Hajime felt something brush his back.

"It's like a spatial fold," he muttered. "These two doors are actually linked. Crossing through one places you at the other. What we're seeing are visual illusions of that link."

Then, a thought struck him.

"If I keep the doors open… what happens?"

He pushed the door open again. The image repeated: Naine's back on the other side. As he opened door after door, Naine watched as more and more Hajimes passed by her—like an endless hallway of doppelgängers.

The dog, seeing copies of himself, tilted his head and spun in a circle—prompting all his reflections to mimic the movement. The effect was bizarre and surreal.

"This is too slow," Hajime said. "Let's stress test it."

Time Wheel Spin.

A hum filled the air as Hajime blurred, streaking through space like a passing breeze. In an instant, the reflections stretched far beyond the eye could follow. Then—a sound like glass shattering. A portion of the visual corridor blinked out of existence.

"Thirteen hundred and sixty-four iterations…" Hajime murmured, watching the broken segment slowly reconstruct itself. "So that's the limit. I was hoping for true infinity."

He turned to Naine. "Get ready. I'm going to break us out."

"Ah—"

Before she could fully brace herself, her vision blurred. The corridor twisted around her, like standing on a damp cloth being wrung dry. In seconds, the ceiling rotated to her side.

As gravity shifted, she began falling—toward a wall that had become the floor. A hand caught her mid-fall.

With one arm holding Naine and the other grabbing White Wolf, Hajime leapt into the air, activated his technique mid-flight, and freed both hands. In a single, fluid motion, he summoned Extermination, drew the bowstring, and created a gleaming arrow of cursed energy.

He fired. The arrow screamed through the warped space, bursting open a hole in the twisting corridor.

Then, holding his companions close, Hajime leapt through the breach. The world around them snapped back to normal.

They landed in the real school corridor.

Before he could even catch his breath, Hajime sensed a tremor behind him. He turned. A massive slab of broken wall crashed down toward them.

BOOM!

He punched through it, breaking it into fragments the size of eggshells. Cursed energy guided the debris harmlessly away. From the splintered wall, a fleshy mass squirmed into view.

"Looks like the Curse's main body," Hajime muttered.

It burst free, demolishing the surrounding staircase and walls. Its form was grotesque—six frog-like limbs, a gaping mouth with rings of jagged teeth, and a tail like a giant lizard's.

"Good thing I put up a Curtain," Hajime muttered. "Cleanup would've been a nightmare."

The Curse screeched, and Naine instinctively clutched White Wolf .She handed Hajime back Totsuka-no-Tsurugi and jumped out the corridor window, escaping with the wolf.

The creature roared and lunged—but Hajime wasn't fazed.

"These Curses get uglier every time," he sighed, then dashed in, blade drawn.

Outside, Naine exhaled in relief—until a series of rapid explosions echoed behind her. She turned in time to see glass shattering from three floors of the teaching building.

From the dust, a hulking monster came crashing through, and behind it, Hajime burst out, bloodied. His body was stained with purplish-black ichor.

The Curse's body was torn, two limbs severed, its chest split open, raw and pulsing.

White Wolf barked—then flinched as a shadow streaked past.

Naine barely had time to raise her hands before something coiled around her. Pain bloomed in her stomach. A rope-like fish shikigami bound her torso, and a giant toad subdued Byakko.

A man stepped forward from the shadows, face grim. "Drop the sword or the girl dies!"

Hajime landed, calm despite the threat. He glanced back at the Cursed Spirit charging him from behind. He smirked.

"You want this?" He raised the sword. "Come get it."

The Curse Master relaxed slightly—just before the pain hit.

"Why… does it hurt so much? My hands… my feet…"

He collapsed, staring blankly as blood gushed from the severed limbs of his shikigami. Hajime reappeared behind him, blade dripping.

To prevent him from dying too soon, Hajime used Reverse Cursed Technique to lightly heal his wounds. There were still questions to ask, after all.

It had been a simple trick: Hajime imbued the sword with his technique, threw it, and when the Curse Master reached for it, the trap was sprung. Hajime reappeared, retrieved the blade, and ended the fight in one clean motion.

"I'm a man of my word," Hajime muttered. "You wanted the sword—I gave it to you."

With a sigh, he turned toward the monster.

"You're an eyesore. If you were Special Grade, you might've been worth keeping alive."

He formed a seal with one hand, activated his technique, and leapt onto the beast's back.

Totsuka-no-Tsurugi gleamed under the moonlight. He slashed downward in one clean arc. A red line split the creature's skull, and its body convulsed violently.

One more slash—and the head rolled off.

Extermination complete.

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